Rob Ford wants to freeze property taxes but even his allies aren’t enthusiastic

In a letter to the city manager late last week, Rob Ford called for a property tax freeze to begin in 2014—which, conveniently, also happens to be a municipal election year. The letter wasn’t a total surprise, but even the mayor’s allies on council are sounding wishy-washy about the plan. Paul Ainslietold the Toronto Star the tax rate should be set so that city hall can at least cover its costs; David Shiner said he’d love to support a freeze but was worried about cuts to city services; and Peter Milczyn chose his words carefully, saying it “might be a viable thing to do.” Ford hasn’t outlined exactly how he plans to balance the books (a freeze could hinder the city’s ability to pay for already-negotiated salary increases, or wage and service costs that are tied to inflation), so we suspect his 2014 campaign will call for more waste-cutting to keep the budget afloat without raising taxes. After all, the mayor’s latest motto is “I can’t support taxing the taxpayer.” [Toronto Star]